Henry Gidney

Sir Henry Albert John Gidney FRSE MID (1873–5 May 1942) was a leader of the Anglo-Indian community of the British Raj for 20 years. His grandfather, William Gidney, was killed at the Siege of Lucknow in 1857 but his family decided to stay in India.

He was born in Igatpuri in India on 9 June 1873 the son of John Gidney, an engine driver for the GIPR, and his wife Margaret David. He was raised a Methodist.

He received his education first at Baldwins Boys School in Bangalore, then at St Peters High School in Mazagaon, then sent home to Britain for final education in Edinburgh, to where his family had links. At 16, he joined the Calcutta Medical College at the University of Calcutta, graduating as a first-class gold medal winner. He returned again to Britain to take a Diploma in Public Health (DPH) at Cambridge University plus a further Diploma in Ophthalmology (D.O.) at Oxford University. He remained at Oxford as a Research Fellow, lecturing in ophthalmology.

At 36 years old, he was already an FRCS and MRCP.

In 1897 he went to London to sit the exams for the Indian Medical Service, which he passed. He then joined the British Indian Army, seeing action in China during the Boxer rebellion in 1901. He was Mentioned in Dispatches by his senior officer for his actions, also being promoted from lieutenant to captain in the same year. He returned to Britain after the war but came back to India in 1906. He was promoted to major in 1909 and lieutenant colonel in 1917. In 1911 he appears to have taken an additional role as a civilian surgeon in the Kohima/ Naga Hills area.

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